All of which is amazingly irrelevant. The offense is so intensely awful that it renders every other topic to–just something to worry about. Even Sunday’s five-run “outburst” put the White Sox almost within 30 runs of an AL average offense. It’s the first week of May.

1. That “Add-a-run” Reed really blew the hell out of that game, Sunday

I almost wish Addison Reed was an issue, simply because “Add-a-run” is such a hilarious nickname to chide a closer with, but it takes a lot of effort to get upset with his performance, and even then, he’s still taken a necessary step forward from last season. Reed’s troubling work last year was consistently defended by the 88% save percentage that slid him in nicely as roughly average among other high-volume ninth inning guys. After feeding Billy Butler a cookie on Sunday, Reed’s down to 91% this season, with a 2.57 ERA.

An actual concern might be Reed having now walked eight of the 60 batters he’s faced on the season and his fastball is down a mile from last year. Troubling, but seemingly a worthy trade-off for him to incorporate his slider more and miss bats. Give me a more erratic Reed mixing sliders with a 93 mph fastball over a guy pumping 94 mph straight down broadway time after time.

And the bullpen at large? 3.52 ERA. 8th in the AL. Average. In a hitter’s friendly park.

2. This defense is terrible

Aesthetically, yeah, it’s pretty rough. The White Sox’ .980 fielding percentage is the worst in the American League. The level to which they’ve been burnt by it is less galling; the 11 unearned runs they have allowed is the sixth-most in the AL. Their 72% defensive efficiency–the rate of balls in play turned into outs–is downright good. They’re rated fourth in the league in both park-adjusted and non-adjusted efficiency. Pitching can obviously play a big part in the quality of contact, but the hard evidence that the defense is costing the Sox boatloads of runs isn’t really there. Man-oh-man is it there for the Astros, but not the Sox.

It could certainly be costing them lots of games, because their margin for error on any given night is razor thin due to a lack of runs. But again, that’s the offense.

3. Starting rotation carnage

Gavin Floyd has a date with the knife, Jake Peavy could be headed to disabled list with back problems no one really has pinned the down the cause or severity of and John Danks still needs to show he can miss bats in Double-A. These three were supposed to be the foundation of an elite pitching staff and their absence could still be problematic, but hasn’t really been a factor so far. The White Sox haven’t been awash in aces during the Don Cooper years, but they continue to be reliable in turning detritus into solid average starters even while they’re magic injury-avoidant pixie dust wears off.

Dylan Axelrod, Jose Quintana and Hector Santiago have already eaten up 13 starts this year. Clearly, Robin Ventura doesn’t have the utmost trust for this trio–they’ve averaged under 5.2 innings per outing–but they have put up a 3.58 ERA combined when they have started. It’s unlikely that will hold with Axelrod’s puny strikeout rate and Santiago and Quintana simply having the bumps in the road that young, in-progress starters have. But these guys have gotten above-average results so far and the White Sox are still at the bottom of the division.

This team won’t survive this offense as is, but it’d be quite a search to find one that could.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan

“Can any of you hit? No? Jeeze, this is gonna be tough.” (Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports)

Almost every game this year the question for the White Sox is whether they’ll be able to score enough (read: any) runs. With their 2^nd-best pitcher on the mound in Jose Quintana up against Wade Davis, this should be a match-up that favored Chicago.

The White Sox would draw first blood in the third. Wise singled to left, de Aza walked, and Keppinger squeaked a “single” up the middle with Miguel Tejada and Alcides Escobar bumping into each other. That would load the bases for a severely slumping Alex Rios, who appears to have changed his stance to the point where he is basically standing completely straight up and down. Rios would chop the first pitch to third base, driving in a run on the force out. Adam Dunn, whose bat has to be the slowest in the majors at this point, popped a foul ball behind the plate that Sal Perez never saw, but Mike Moustakas came charging in from 3B to make the catch and end the inning.

Jose Quintana wouldn’t allow a baserunner until a walk to Billy Butler the second time through the lineup, starting the game by retiring 11 Royals in a row. Quintana would strand Butler on first as well, getting through 4 shutout innings on 56 pitches.

The White Sox would threaten in the 5^th with a leadoff single from Wise, who would advance to 2B after a throwing error on a pickoff attempt by Davis. de Aza would force Davis to throw 10 pitches, though he would eventually strike out. A chopper to third by Keppinger, a walk to Rios, and a Dunn strikeout would defuse the threat.

Kansas City would get their first hit with 1 out in the bottom of the 5^th, as Moustakas would rip a 2-0 pitch into right field for a single. Francoeur would then follow it up with a double to left, bringing up Sal Perez with runners on 2^nd and 3^rd. Quintana continued to struggle to find the zone, walking Perez on 4 pitches to load the bases. That would bring up the decrepit, ancient Miguel Tejada, who would chop a single through Alexei Ramirez in the hole tying the game at 1. Then Keppinger would kick a double play ball into the air, putting Kansas City ahead 2-1 with the bases loaded and 0 out instead of two more outs. Quintana would induce another grounder, but it would also leak through the right side of the infield to put Kansas City up 3-1. Quintana would manage to retire Butler and Hosmer without any further damage, but a 2-run deficit feels fairly insurmountable for this offense.

Lorenzo Cain would reach on a grounder to Alexei, which he would bobble and then skip late over to first base, making this a candidate for, “Worst Defensive Game I’ve Seen From Alexei.” Another weak grounder would find a hole, and Quintana would be pulled after 5+ innings. This would be the second outing in a row where the White Sox defense failed him after pitching quite well. Nate Jones would come in and shut things down, with a Francoeur liner into a double play and a grounder to get three quick outs.

Gimenez lead off the 7^th by reaching on a comical misplay by Tejada at 2^nd. DeWayne Wise bafflingly got another single, this time off the lefty Tim Collins who had replaced Wade Davis, to make him 3-3 on the day. de Aza would then loop a double to deep to right field, tying the game 3-3 with none out. Having retired no one and surrendered the lead, Collins would depart.

Aaron Crow would induce a grounder out of Keppinger, which advanced de Aza to third. On the very next pitch, Aaron Crow held onto a slider for too long and de Aza would come home on the wild pitch to put the White Sox ahead 4-3. Rios would follow it up with a solo shot to left, further padding the lead 5-3.

As a sign that all things were suddenly breaking the White Sox’ way, Adam Dunn legged out an infield single into the teeth of the shift. Konerko and Gillaspie would make outs to end the inning, but with a 4-run “explosion” in the 7^th, the White Sox were in good shape.

Unfortunately, the White Sox are good at coming up with new ways to humiliate themselves, as Wise didn’t realize a shallow pop-up to center was his ball and it dropped in for a “single.” Ventura decided that with Alex Gordon coming up, this was a job for Matt Thornton. Thornton would oblige by falling behind 3-1, but then coming back to strike Gordon out swinging. Yet another chopped grounder would find its way through the right side of the infield to put Royals on 1^st & 2^nd with 1 out. Ventura would go to the bullpen again, bringing in Lindstrom. Lindstrom would help the White Sox out of yet another jam, getting a double play grounder (that Keppinger didn’t kick into right field) to end the inning.

Crain would pitch a scoreless 8^th. Reed would start the 9^th with a 5 pitch walk to Sal Perez, however, and the pinch runner Getz would advance on a pretty awful passed ball by Gimenez. Reed would make the misplay irrelevant, by walking pinch hitter George Kottaras on another 5 pitches, with his release point looking a little late. He would recover to induce weak pop-ups from Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain.

Then Addison Reed would hang a 3-2 slider to Butler who would drive in both walks to right center, meaning Reed’s first blown save of the year and a tie game at 5-5. In fact, de Aza would have to make a diving catch on a Hosmer liner to prevent a walk-off loss.

Ventura brought Brian Omogrosso in for the 10^th, because tie-games are mop up situations and he gave up the game-winning run for the Royals. White Sox lose. Oh – also, Ventura called for an intentional walk of Chris Getz in the 10th inning. Chris Getz, as you may know, is an atrocious hitter. This team has a tiny margin for error, and Ventura frequently throws it away on highly dubious decisions like this.

Notes:

Hector Gimenez would continue to call for a letter-high fastball on every single 0-2 count from Quintana, to the point where Alex Gordon just missed a grand slam on one because it’s that predictable.

The 2013 White Sox bullpen could fly under the radar yet again (Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports).

The White Sox recent signing of free agent relief pitcher Matt Lindstrom not only reminded me that the White Sox are, indeed, allowed to make offseason moves, but got me thinking about the state of the bullpen.

A bullpen that, in 2012, featured two rookies as closers, rookies as setup men and a rookie as a left-handed specialist.   A bullpen that everyone expected to eventually wear down last season, yet never did.  A bullpen that now features Addison Reed, Nate Jones and Hector Santiago with a year under their belts.  A bullpen that replaces Will Ohman and Zach Stewart from last year’s opening day roster with Donnie Veal and Lindstrom for this year.

So excuse me if I’m a little bullish about the 2013 White Sox bullpen.  If Reed can grab a tight hold onto the closer’s role (a significant “if”), then the bullpen roles are already clear as day.  Santiago and Jones should serve as the long-relievers, Donnie Veal as the left-handed specialist, Jesse Crain, Matt Thornton and Lindstrom as the setup men and Reed as the closer.

Taking a step back and looking at these roles, there seems to be a nice balance between rights and lefties, as well as young and old.

The Sox will have long-relievers from both sides of the mound, whose maturity should benefit from not being used in too many pressure-packed situations (although both have experience in those situations from last year).  Veal filled the left-handed specialist role (sometimes affectionately known as a “LOOGY”) nearly perfectly, allowing only five base runners over 34 plate appearances against left-handed hitters. The White Sox will have veterans in setup roles from both sides of the mound to pitch in those before mentioned crucial situations and who also will provide insurance (especially Lindstrom) to Reed in case he struggles.

The most likely situation for bullpen failure (and frankly, the most damaging scenario) is if Reed struggles in the closer role.  While ERA isn’t as telling of a stat for relievers as it is for starters, Reed’s 4.75 ERA and 1.36 WHIP are reasons for concern.  However, Reed was still 29 for 33 in save opportunities last season.

While Reed’s 33 opportunities at trying to close games last season could prove valuable for next season, he never seemed like a guy who let the game affect his nerves or emotions.  His 62 appearances from last season should give him greater arm endurance for this upcoming season, which could prove vital in August and September.

The 2012 White Sox bullpen was a Kenny Williams specialty, completely flying under the radar and surpassing most, if not all, expectations.  Yet even though major league hitters have now seen the Sox’s young guns over the course of a season, don’t be surprised if this bullpen—one that seems to have its pieces in place and has a good mix of both righties and lefties, as well as young and old—somehow gets overlooked by many yet again.  And that’s probably just the way they like it.